The Rebel

Sitcom adapted from The Rebel cartoon strip in The Oldie. It focuses on an anarchic, anti-establishment pensioner on steroids for the 21st Century.

Henry Palmer is 70. He looks every bit the respectable, fine, upstanding citizen. Except that underneath it all he's not. Henry's not the kindly, frail epitome of what we used to think of as 'old'. Oh no. For 50 years he's been putting his youthful past behind him; or perhaps more accurately, brushing it under the floral patterned carpet.

In the Sixties he was a Mod, a regular visitor to Brighton on his mirrored up Lambretta scooter, dressed in a Parka, ready for a rumble with the Rockers on their motorbikes. Back then he was tooled up to smash deckchairs on the beach. These days he sits on them to take in the view. Because that's what you do when you've retired to Brighton...

Recently bereaved by the loss of his long-suffering wife, Henry shares this adjustment with his slightly impossible daughter, Cath. She's a Pet Therapist and married to her utterly ineffectual husband, Jeremy. If it's possible to say or do the wrong thing to bring out the worst in Henry then Cath does... like constantly putting the glossy brochure for the 'Golden Copse Retirement Village' under his nose. But the Rebel in Henry never really went away. It was just brewing...

Infuriated by sushi, posh coffee, modern art and driven by a heightened sense of injustice, Henry's had enough. He shares his rebellion with charity shop owner Margaret and best friend, old hippie, Charles.